Dispute Over First Woman on 14 Summits

Oh Eun-sun of South Korea claimed a summit of Annapurna earlier this week, which would make her the first woman to summit all 14 of the world's tallest mountains--except for the fact that her total check list of achievements is in hot dispute within the climbing community.

Her Basque rival Edurne Pasaban, who's also been vying to be the first woman to summit all 14, claims Oh's summit of Kangchenjunga in 2009 is dubious. She cites a summit photo obscured by snow and fog and an extremely blurry summit video. Critics also say that Oh's summit time is too good to be true because of inclement weather that day, which obscured the view of verifiers watching from afar. Oh also had three Sherpas with her, but only one confirmed her summit claim.

Journalist Elizabeth Hawley, the de facto record keeper for Himalayan expeditions, has recorded the climb as "disputed" for now, according to ABC News. Hawley plans to speak with Oh upon Oh's return from Annapurna and with one of Oh's Sherpas.

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